Geneticist Receives Basic Research Prize From American Heart Association

University of Michigan Health System
Monday, 10 November 2003

The American Heart Association has awarded one of its highest accolades, the Basic Research Prize, to U-M geneticist David Ginsburg, M.D., for his discovery of molecular genetic defects causing major bleeding disorders.

The association awards its Basic Research Prize annually to recognize "outstanding contributions to the advancement of cardiovascular science." Co-winner of this year's prize with Ginsburg is Shaun R. Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, who was cited for discovering cellular signaling mechanisms that regulate blood clot formation.

Ginsburg is the James V. Neel Distinguished University Professor in the departments of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School and a Research Professor in the U-M Life Sciences Institute. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and co-author of one a leading genetics textbooks for medical students. Despite running a full research program in his new lab at the LSI, Ginsburg still sees patients in the genetics clinic as well.

A citation accompanying his prize credits Ginsburg with "pivotal discoveries of the molecular genetic defects causing numerous major inherited bleeding and clotting disorders, including von Willebrand disease – findings that open the way to more effective strategies for prevention and treatment of these disorders."

Presenting the awards, AHA President Augustus Grant, M.D., of Durham, N.C., said: "By unlocking secrets with a complex biological system and finding flaws in its genetic structure, Drs. Coughlin and Ginsburg have provided the framework for effective new techniques to identify, control and prevent vascular disease." Each prize includes a $2,500 honorarium.

A native of Newburgh, N.Y., Ginsburg is a graduate of Yale University and Duke University Medical School. He joined the UM medical faculty in 1985. Ginsburg was a pioneer in deciphering the molecular genetic basis for von Willebrand Disease, the most common inherited bleeding disorder in humans, and several other serious bleeding and clotting diseases, including thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Ginsburg received the prestigious prize during an opening session of the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2003 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.

For more information, or to contact University of Michigan Health System, see their website at: www.med.umich.edu